basysKom Application Development Services

Introducing the RiveQtQuickPlugin – Powerful Animations For Your QtQuick Applications
Essential Summary
Rive is a popular tool for vector animations. While the editor itself is a closed source commercial product, there are FOSS implementations for the player runtime. basysKom has developed a QtQuick integration based on the rive-cpp library. This article introduces the project and its current state.
Professional Development of your HMI

Do you need a device HMI but lack the time or specialized HMI expertise?

Why choose services from basysKom?

From conception through implementation to testing, we support you in the development of your custom HMI. Our services also include technical consulting, customized training, coaching, augmentation of your development teams, and complete project management throughout the entire lifecycle of your product.

Motivation

Modern UIs tend to use small animations to guide and engage their users. Designers should be able to create and tweak this kind of animations without having to rely on software developers. Lottie is an established format for this kind of animations. Qt itself has native built-in support since 5.13. In addition there is also the lottie-qml project.

So why did we bother creating the RiveQtQuickPlugin?

Lottie has a few downsides.

  • Lottie files tend to be quite large both on storage as well as in memory when run. This is an issue especially on embedded devices.
  • Lottie is non-interactive. It is not possible to create interactive animations without involving a software developer.

RiveQtQuickPlugin: A Quick Overview

While the RiveQtQuickPlugin is currently still work in progress, it already provides the following features that enhance the functionality of your QtQuick/QML applications.

  • Rive and Qt Quick Integration:
    Import and manipulate Rive animations in your QtQuick/QML application, using simple QML types.
  • Dynamic Interaction:
    Create a lively user interface by responding to user interactions with the help of Rive animations. Rive animations can react on mouse hover or touch events directly, no need to for the developer to implement anything.
  • Multi-Platform-Multi-Qt:
    Qt5.15.2+ with Software and Hardware Rendering
    Qt6.5 with Software and Hardware Rendering

Getting Started

You can access RiveQtQuickPlugin on our GitHub repository here.

We have put together a detailed README to guide you through the setup, use and customization of the plugin.

Don’t forget to check out the examples demonstrating Rive animations within a QtQuick/QML context. These examples cover a wide range of use cases, from simple animations to complex interactions, which can serve as an excellent starting point for your projects.

The State of Development

The Plugin is released under LGPLv3+ and is still work in progress. There are some todos on our list that we are currently working on.
  • Anti-Aliasing for Hardware Rendering
  • Support GCC with the external Rive-Library
  • Improving the interface to QML
  • Plugin Documentation (once the Interface to QML is in a good shape)

Final Thoughts

We believe the RiveQtQuickPlugin will make building animations for QtQuick/QML applications a more creative, enjoyable, and streamlined process for developers and designers alike.

As always, we welcome feedback, suggestions, and queries from the community. Let’s continue our journey of technological innovation together!

Visit our GitHub to get started with RiveQtQuickPlugin today.

Happy coding!

Stay tuned to our blog for more updates, tutorials, and discussions about all things Qt and Rive.

Picture of Jeremias Bosch

Jeremias Bosch

Jeremias Bosch consults in his position as Technical Project Manager our customers in building embedded HMI applications, as well as the implementation of next generation cloud projects. He is responsible for the system/software-architecture and the development within customer projects as well as the agile project management. He has over 12 years of experience in developing HMIs and Web Applications. He has delivered multiple large and medium scale Qt Quick and cloud applications in industries such as automotive, aerospace and manufacturing engineering. He holds a diploma of computer science from the University of Applied Sciences in Isny. Is a certifed SCRUM Master and Product Owner as well as a certifed Qt Developer.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More Blogarticles

basysKom Newsletter

We collect only the data you enter in this form (no IP address or information that can be derived from it). The collected data is only used in order to send you our regular newsletters, from which you can unsubscribe at any point using the link at the bottom of each newsletter. We will retain this information until you ask us to delete it permanently. For more information about our privacy policy, read Privacy Policy